Invasion of the Culicids
by zanganito
Summary: Murata makes a shocking discovery: Yuuri has accidentally introduced a certain bloodsucking insect to Shin Makoku. Will Ken, Yuuri, and Anissina manage to avert an ecological disaster? Will Gwendel survive Anissina's inventions and Conrart's puns?
1. Murata's Discovery

**Author's Note: **This is a fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

Reviews are appreciated.

**Rated****Teen: **for violence, and biological concepts that may not be appropriate for younger children (not until chapter 12 though).

**Pairings: ** None. Although there will be slight innuendo for various pairings (kind of like in the anime!)

**Warning:**This story contains dubious humor, terrible puns, crossdressing, and the occasional moment of complete silliness. And it is slightly educational.

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><p>Ken Murata leaned back and closed his eyes. Sometimes there were benefits to being the Great Sage. Sure, Yuuri was more popular, but he had all the responsibilities of being King. Paperwork to sign, nobles to greet, a country to run, negotiations with other countries...nope, Murata was definitely not jealous of Yuuri.<p>

Most of the time Ken didn't have much to do at the Temple. It could get a little boring sometimes, but it was nice once in a while.

He had just finished exams on Earth (not that they had been difficult), and now he could lounge about to his heart's content until he felt like doing something productive again.

He could hear the birds chirping, the wind blowing, shrine maidens tiptoeing away as they tried not to disturb the Great Sage as he started to doze off…

A whining buzzing sound interrupted his moment of tranquility. It increased in volume as it approached his ear.

"mmph…mosquito" Murata mumbled as he slapped the air near his ear. He missed. Murata opened his eyes and searched around for the insect that had disturbed him.

Murata sat upright and his heart felt like it stopped for a moment as he realized something. He was in Shin Makoku, not Earth. There shouldn't be any mosquitoes here. There never had been, until now.

This was bad, potentially very bad. He stood up and started to run toward the castle.


	2. Yuuri's Reaction

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kyo kara Maoh. This is a fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

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><p>Murata didn't stop running until he arrived at the castle.<p>

He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of the idea before. Yuuri always used water to transport himself and other things through the two worlds. It was really only a matter of time before there was some form of contamination. He had to find Yuuri and let him know what had happened. Looking around, Ken spotted an orange-haired soldier near the castle entrance. His horse was saddled up, and he looked as if he was getting ready to leave on a mission.

"Yozak, do you know where Shibuya is? I need to talk with him."

"I think he's doing paperwork with Gwendel…" Yozak began

"Thanks!" Ken yelled as he ran inside the castle.

"Hmm. I wonder why he's in such a hurry." Yozak said to himself as he watched Murata disappear from sight.

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><p>"Shibuya! We need to talk." Ken shouted as he banged open the doors to Gwendel's office.<p>

Yuuri jumped and spilled ink on the documents he had just been signing.

Gwendel's eye twitched and he gave Ken a glare that would have sent most people running for cover. "Can it wait? His majesty is occupied right now." He growled.

Ken pushed his glasses up on his nose. The sun glinted off of them, obscuring his eyes. "No, it's a very important matter," he paused "We might need your help later though."

He grabbed Yuuri by the arm and started pulling him towards the door.

"Murata! What are you doing?" Yuuri shouted as he tried to avoid knocking over stacks of papers.

"We need to talk alone and figure out exactly what has happened before we tell the others." Ken said as he hauled Yuuri through a stack of papers much to Gwendel's displeasure.

"Figure out what? Whatever it is we can discuss it in here." Yuuri said as he yanked his arm out of Murata's grasp.

"I think you might want to hear the news for yourself before we tell anyone else."

"Excuse me _your majesty_, I was just leaving." Gwendel said while gathering up the documents that had been ruined by the ink spill. He gave Murata a dirty look as he headed towards the doors.

When the doors closed and they were alone in the room, Yuuri turned to Ken expectantly "Ok, what is it?" he asked.

"Earlier this afternoon, I was bitten by a mosquito."

"What? You mean you came barging in here because of a mosquito bite?" Yuuri shouted. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

"Think, Shibuya. Have you ever had a mosquito bite while you were here?"

"Do you have any idea how much of my paperwork you messed up? And for what, _a mosquito_?"

Murata waited until Yuuri calmed down a little before asking the question again.

Yuri thought for a minute, then answered, "Uh, not that I remember."

"That's because there aren't any mosquitoes in Shin Makoku. Or weren't. As far as I know there is now at least one, most likely more."

"So, where did they come from?" Yuuri asked.

"That's what we need to figure out. I have an idea though. I think some of them might have hitched a ride during one of your travels from earth."

"But I travel through water. Wouldn't the mosquitoes drown even if there was one biting me?"

Murata groaned. Sometimes Yuuri could be a little dense. "The larvae, Shibuya. The larvae live in water. And even though they need air to breathe a few could definitely survive a transport."

"But when did this happen? I don't think there were any mosquito larvae in the toilet, or my bathtub."

"Well, there was the time in the lake…"

"Oh." Yuuri looked down. "So when people get mosquito bites I guess it'll be my fault?"

"It's not just that. Mosquitoes are an invasive species here." Yuuri had a blank look on his face. _Honestly had Yuuri been paying attention at all in Biology class_? Murata wondered. "So there might not be anything that eats them here." Murata continued.

Yuuri continued to stare at Ken, still not understanding.

Murata sighed and tried to explain. "On Earth there are bats, spiders, dragonflies and many other things that eat mosquitoes. If not many animals here will eat mosquitoes we could have a problem."

"What do you mean by problem?" Yuuri asked cautiously.

"It's hard to say," Murata began, "Best case scenario: there's something here that will keep the population under control. Worst case scenario: we'll have _hordes_ of mosquitoes to deal with."

Yuuri frowned and scratched his head for a minute. Then all of a sudden he looked happy, as if an idea had just popped into his head. "Can we just bring a lot of bug spray back from earth?"

Murata grimaced. Today was going to be a very long day.

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><p><strong>Murata's fun fun mosquito facts<strong>

From now on at the end of every chapter I will be posting all of the exciting mosquito facts that would otherwise slow the story down. Enjoy!

oooooooooo

Only the female mosquito drinks blood. She uses the protein to increase her egg production.

Yes, mosquito larvae do breathe air. They have short, straw shaped breathing tubes attached to their tail.

The Asian Tiger Mosquito (_Aedes albopictus_) was introduced to the US in the 1980s by used tires that were bought from Japan.


	3. The Mosquito, herself

**Author's Note:** If you don't know what the Asian Tiger Mosquito (_Aedes albopictus_) looks like, you might want to look up a picture of it before reading this chapter. It is a very beautiful mosquito, in my opinion. ;)

Also, thank you marnika for the review. It is very helpful to get feedback.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kyo kara Maoh. This is a fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

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><p>After talking with Yuuri, Murata had come to the conclusion that it would be best to have a meeting with Gwendel and the others as soon as possible to inform them of what had happened. Murata then went searching for proof, while Yuuri gathered everyone together to start a meeting. His endeavor finally had paid off, but it had taken longer than he expected. He looked at the tiny, dark colored insect flying around inside an old fruit preserve jar that he had convinced the maids to lend him. He frowned. Mosquitoes were definitely not his favorite insect. It was important not to underestimate them though. That had been the undoing of his shortest lived re-incarnation on earth. He looked closer. The mosquito was mostly black with a thin white stripe on the thorax, and its legs were black with white bands. Murata wasn't an expert in mosquito identification, but he knew what a few of the more common species looked like. This one was most likely <em>Aedes albopictus<em>, the Asian Tiger Mosquito.

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><p>When Murata walked into Gwendel's office, he saw that Yuuri had already started the meeting. Gwendel, Anissina, Gunter, Wolfram, and Conrart were all seated at a table, listening to their king. He appeared to be finishing up a summary of Murata's findings. It was hard to say how much they understood. Gwendel and Conrart looked confused. Anissina had a slightly glazed over look to her eyes. He wasn't sure if Gunter was paying attention or just staring at Yuuri. Wolfram looked annoyed.<p>

"Maybe it would be better with a visual aid?" Murata asked as he took out the jar and placed it on the table.

Everyone crowded around to look.

"This is the creature that traveled from your world?" Gwendel asked uncertainly.

"Uh, yeah…" Yuuri said, looking embarrassed.

"I remember that from when I was on earth." Conrart said "They itch a lot after they bite." He frowned slightly, as if from a bad memory.

Yuuri looked even more embarrassed.

Gunter stared at the jar for a few moments, "Amazing." he breathed "Even the smallest creatures from his majesty's world are blessed with a black, noble coloring." Then he picked up the jar and held it with reverence, "Oh majesty, how kind of you to bring such a noble creature from earth for us. It is so beautiful, so graceful, just like his majesty…"

"Let me see that!" Wolfram shouted and snatched the jar from Gunter. He shook it and watched the insect inside. "Hmmph! It looks kind of WIMPY to me."

"Wolfram! Try not to injure our only specimen." Anissina commanded as she took the jar from him. She looked at the mosquito. Her expression started to change. Her blue eyes sparkled. A connection was being made. She was after all, a scientist and an inventor. To her the mosquito represented not only a problem, but the unknown, a challenge.

Yuuri noticed the look in Anissina's eyes "Do you think you can invent something that will get rid of them?" He asked hopefully.

"Of course I can." She exclaimed

Gwendel turned a few shades paler and started moving away.

Anissina looked at the mosquito with a more determined look in her eyes. "It needs to be studied first. I will of course need more specimens."

"I'll see what I can do." Said Murata.

Gunter had been moping about until that point. "You can't mean you are going to kill the beautiful creatures that are such a generous gift from his majesty?" he asked in a shocked voice.

"How hard can it be to kill something that wimpy?" Wolfram cut in before Anissina could answer. "I bet I can do it. Anissina, give me the jar!"

Unable to hold himself back any longer, Gunter snatched the jar from Anissina and ran off wailing "Don't worry majesty, I will protect your noble creature."

Anissina and Wolfram chased Gunter out of the room. Shouts of _Oh majesty!,_ _Gunter you wimp! _and _It's mine!_ could be heard from the hallway.

Gwendel grumbled , "Well then it's settled. Your Highness and your Excellency will work with Lady von Karbelnikoff to get rid of the creature from your world. If you will excuse me, your majesty, I have paperwork to catch up on." Gwendel left rather quickly, going away from the direction that Anissina had taken.

"Thanks for your help Murata. I think they understood what happened better when they saw the mosquito." He paused "At least Anisinna did." Yuuri turned around about to leave, then thought of something, "Do you need any help catching mosquitoes for Anissina?"

"I think I can manage."

"Okay. Hey Conrad!" Yuuri yelled before the brown-haired soldier could discretely slip out of the room. "Do you want to play some baseball?"

"Of course, your majesty."

"It's Yuuri!"

"Of course, _Yuu-ri_."

When he was alone in the room, Murata smiled. Things were actually going much better than he had hoped.

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><p><strong>Murata's fun fun mosquito facts<strong>

There are over 3,000 species of mosquitoes worldwide. Some of them will take blood meals from just about anything, some have very specific hosts, and a few don't take blood meals at all!

_Culex territans_ only takes blood meals from frogs.

Mosquitoes in the genus _Toxorynchites_ do not take blood meals. In fact, they are beneficial since their larvae are predators of other species of mosquitoes.

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><p><strong>AN: Please Review!**


	4. The Bug Zapper

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kyo kara Maoh. This is a fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

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><p>For the past few days Ken Murata had spent his time finding mosquito larvae and adults for Anissina. He still needed to find more though. He had an idea for the lab. However he hadn't seen Anissina at all yesterday or today. It was very uncharacteristic of her. Almost as if she was occupied with something else…<p>

Just then he saw Gwendel run past him down the castle hallway with a terrified expression on his face.

"I wonder…" began Murata.

Murata barely had time to ask himself the question before an out of breath redhead came charging around the corner. She stopped in front of him, panting a little, while her blue eyes glistened with determination and excitement.

"Your Eminence, have you seen Gwendel?" She asked as soon as she caught her breath.

"Uh, why?" Stalling was the only certain way to get information out of her.

"He's supposed to be helping me try out my newest invention." She said. "But I can't seem to find him anywhere."

Murata suppressed a smile and then asked seriously, "What kind of invention?"

"It's called the You-get-attracted-to-the-light-and-fried-kun." She said proudly.

"What!" It sounded suspiciously familiar. "How did you come up with that idea?"

"I asked the Maou what people on Earth use to get rid of mosquitoes. He told me about this bright magical light that attracts them close, then when they get close enough…ZAP! the magic fries them dead. I'm sure I can make one powered by maryoku. It's such a wonderful idea. I'm surprised I didn't come up with it myself." She paused, "I'm sure I would have thought of it eventually though." She added with confidence.

"Oh." He would have to talk with Yuuri about this later.

"Anyway, I need to test my invention." She turned to leave.

"Wait, what about the mosquitoes I've been catching for your lab?" Murata asked. "We will probably need more if you would be interested in helping me find some."

"Oh that," she paused, "Of course I will, but I need to try out the You-get-attracted-to-the-light-and-fried-kun first to see how it runs while powered by maryoku."

Murata sighed. Anissina had a one-track mind when it came to her inventions.

Just then Doria came up to speak with Murata. "Your Eminence, do you know why Gwendel is hiding under the desk in his office? We need to clean in there but he refuses to move" she said. "Oh," she exclaimed, as she saw Anissina with THAT particular look in her eye.

"Why thank you Doria." Anissina said sweetly, "Don't worry, I'll have Gwendel out of his office in a few minutes. Please excuse me your Eminence." Anissina said as she marched towards Gwendel's office with a determined, but happy look on her face.

Murata looked at Doria, who had just realized what she had done and had a hand over her mouth. He gave her a reassuring smile. They could hear Anissina's voice from Gwendel's office as she apparently encountered him.

"Oh Gwendel, there you are. What are you doing under there? Don't be silly, now isn't the time for games. Come on, let's not waste any more time." _Uff _"Really Gwendel, stop fooling around and let go of your desk. You can work later. "

It always surprised Murata that Anissina could drag the larger demon around. He suspected it had something to do with her determination. Or maybe Gwendel's weakness for everything cute?

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><p>Murata did not waste any time before searching for Yuuri "Shibuya! Did you describe a bug-zapper to Anissina?" He demanded as soon as he caught sight of the other double black teen.<p>

Yuri scratched to back of his head and laughed nervously "hahaha, uh yeah."

"Why?" Murata demanded. "I thought you didn't want her inventing anything dangerous."

Yuuri looked surprised "Bug-zappers aren't dangerous." He said.

"A rotating fan isn't dangerous either." Murata countered.

"What did you want me to do? Say nothing and let the mosquitoes take over? Or maybe you want to suggest an idea?"

"Look, Yuuri, I know you meant well, but a bug-zapper really isn't the most effective way to kill mosquitoes."

"Well maybe Anissina's version will work." Yuuri countered

After a long pause "You know what Shibuya? You might be right." Murata said hopefully.

Yuuri smiled.

Just then they heard a load crash from the direction of Anissina's laboratory. It was followed by an electric buzz that kept increasing in intensity until it reached its limit and started to crackle

-BBBBBBZZZZZZAAAAAPPPP!-

Then they heard a man's scream

"GGGGAAAAAHHHHHH!"

another crash followed.

They could faintly hear Anissina's voice. "Huh. I never would have expected it to do that. Oh well. I guess the You-get-attracted-to-the-light-and-fried-kun is a FAILURE!"

Murata looked at Yuuri. "You know Shibuya, you might want to avoid Lord von Voltaire for a few days."

Yuuri turned a few shades paler.

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><p><strong>Murata's fun fun mosquito facts<strong>

Most species of mosquitoes are not attracted to ultraviolet light, rendering bug-zappers ineffective at controlling mosquitoes.

In fact, in a study done on bug-zappers, only 0.22% of the insects killed were mosquitoes or biting gnats. The rest were harmless (moths, midges, etc).

CO2 is much more effective at attracting mosquitoes. (yes, your breath and sweat are attracting them to you in hordes)

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><p><strong>AN:** **Please Review. **


	5. Conrart Tells a Joke

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kyo kara Maoh. This is a fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended

**Author's Note: **A big thank you to everyone who reviewed. I'm having a lot of fun writing this, but it's still very much a work in progress and I appreciate any feedback I can get.

I originally intended to write the entire story from Murata's POV, but I think maybe it would work better to have a few chapters with other character's POV since there are so many characters. Let me know what you think.

Thanks to Paula for the idea. This chapter is for you

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Conrart Point Of View<strong>

Conrart really hadn't had much time to think about the current situation. He had been kept busy with training new recruits and guarding the Maou. He had to admit that it was troubling to imagine mosquitoes in Shin Makoku, but he was sure Yuuri would find a solution. Besides there really wasn't much he could do. Anissina was the scientist. Yuuri and Murata had grown up with mosquitoes. All he had were a few unfortunate memories from Earth…

-ooooo-ooooo-

During the year that Conrart had spent on Earth, José had decided that Conrart should learn about various pastimes. "It's not good to be serious all the time." He had said. "You need to have fun sometimes."

Baseball, for example had been fun. Encouraged by his success, José had decided one weekend that Conrart should get to experience the phenomenon known as camping. Conrart couldn't understand why. From the way that José explained it, it sounded like what soldiers had to do when they were on the march. Or what he had done while wandering around with his father. He had voiced this opinion to José.

José had then gone on about all the food that could be cooked while camping. "And a camp fire is so much fun" he had added.

Conrart didn't think that cooking over a fire was fun. Especially not when you were wet, cold, tired, or hungry and couldn't get it to start. Cooking over a fire was something you did because it was necessary. It was not fun. Microwave ovens on the other hand…

Conrart suggested that they stay home and amuse themselves with the microwave oven instead of going camping.

José stared at him then laughed. "I know it must sound like what you do all the time. But camping is different," explained José, "It's all about experiencing nature. You've mostly seen the city on Earth. If we go camping you can see a lot more animals and trees."

They finally reached a compromise. They would go camping this weekend. Next weekend José would show Conrart how the VCR player worked. _And_ he could play with the microwave oven to his heart's content.

-ooooo-ooooo-

After setting up the tent, Conrart helped José get the fire started. He decided to let José do the cooking since the man seemed to think it was so much fun.

Conrart walked off by himself a little. He would try and "experience nature" as José suggested. Maybe it would be fun.

He could hear the noises made by all the night-time animals. The chirping of what José had explained were crickets, the croaking of frogs, and other noises of creatures he did not know the names of yet. One of them made a very high pitched whine and was coming closer to him.

The creature landed on his arm. It was winged, with long delicate legs, and a thin, needle-like mouth that it appeared to be trying to bite him with.

He instinctively moved his hand to brush the creature away, and then paused. José had told him that crickets were considered good luck. Maybe this animal was considered good luck as well? Besides, how could something so fragile and delicate looking possibly hurt him? He held up his arm and watched. He felt a slight pinprick _not that it hurt at all_ as the creature inserted its needle-like mouth into his arm. The tiny belly swelled up with blood, and then the creature opened its wings and flew off.

A few more landed on his arm to replace the one that had left. He felt similar pinpricks on various parts of his body. He decided to ask José what the creature was, just in case it was dangerous. He doubted that though, since the bite didn't even hurt. Maybe if they were considered lucky like the crickets José would be impressed that he had allowed them to feed instead of ignorantly brushing them away.

He walked over to where José was cooking dinner. "José what are these tiny winged creatures called?" he asked, holding his arm out.

"Just a minute." José said, pulling a pan off of the fire. He looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw the mosquitoes feeding on Conrart's arm. "What are you doing?" He shouted. He jumped up and started slapping at Conrart's arms.

Conrart stepped back, surprised. What had he done to make José angry?

"Don't you have enough sense to swat mosquitoes?" José demanded.

"I thought they might be lucky like the crickets." Conrart explained.

José groaned. "You don't have mosquitoes in Shin Makoku either, do you?"

"No." _Mosquito_. So that's what it was called.

"It's my fault I guess." José said while looking at Conrart apologetically. "I wasn't thinking of all the things you've never experienced. Come on; let's put some bug spray on."

"Bug spray?"

"To keep the mosquitoes away."

"Why?" Conrart asked. "It doesn't hurt when they bite."

"It might not hurt, but it will be a problem later." José warned. "Besides you can get diseases from mosquito bites."

Conrart frowned. The delicate animals were dangerous after all.

-ooooo-ooooo-

The next day Conrart found out what José meant by being a problem later. He had felt unaccountably itchy during the night, and when he looked at his skin in the morning he saw a small red welt in every location where a mosquito had bitten him.

"José what are all these bumps from?" he asked as soon as the doctor woke up.

"Eh," he looked at Conrart's arm, "Those are mosquito bites"

-ooooo-ooooo-

He found he was absentmindedly scratching himself during the car ride back to José's house.

"You're not supposed to scratch!" José scolded.

"I can't help it, they itch."

"You're just going to make it worse." José warned.

Conrart sat back and scowled, trying not to scratch and wondering why he had let José talk him into going camping. Then he remembered and smiled. He decided the first thing he would do when they got home was try cooking all of José's leftover marshmallows in the microwave oven. That sounded like fun.

The next few days were miserable and itchy for Conrart. From then on he made sure to ask José for the bug spray whenever there were mosquitoes around. Conrart decided he liked baseball a lot more than camping.

-ooooo-ooooo-

He almost felt itchy at the memory and shuddered. He would have to be sure to put on bug spray if the mosquitoes became a problem. Then he stopped, suddenly realizing that there was no bug spray in Shin Makoku. He would have to ask Yuuri for some next time the teen traveled to Earth. Or maybe ask Anissina to invent some, although that might not be such a good idea.

Conrart's thoughts were interrupted by some loud voices and shouting at the end of the hallway.

Conrart turned at the noise to see a very disheveled, very angry Gwendel striding down the hall. The demon's dark gray hair that was normally neatly pulled back in a ponytail was loose, mussed about, and sticking up in places. Some of it looked a little singed.

There were scorch marks on his uniform. His face was drawn into the deepest scowl that Conrart had seen in a long time. Gunter was trailing along behind him wailing something about "Anissina's irresponsible inventions" and "His majesty's noble creatures from Earth."

"Conrart, Gunter, in my office now." Gwendel growled. "We're having a meeting."

"Oh, but shouldn't we inform his majesty…" Gunter began hopefully.

"No!" Gwendel shouted as he opened the door.

_Gwendel was always grumpy after being Anissina's test subject_ Conrart mused as he and Gunter sat down in two chairs opposite Gwendel's desk.

"As you both know," Gwendel said while sitting at his desk, "I originally decided to leave the…mosquito problem up to his highness, his excellency, and Anissina." He paused. "However, in light of recent events I think we may have to reconsider this decision."

"What happened?" asked Conrart.

"Oh it was horrible," Gunter began, "Anissina invented the You-get-attracted-to-the-light-and-fried-kun in order to kill his majesty's beautiful creatures…and Gwendel was electrocuted while testing it."

Conrart paused before replying as he suddenly realized he had an opportunity to lighten the mood. He remembered that José had once mentioned that humor was good medicine. A little joke could often make others feel better about tense situations. Gwendel looked like he could use a laugh. "How shocking." Conrart said. "She really needs to learn how to conduct herself."

Gunter put his face in his hands and groaned.

Gwendel's eye twitched and he made a low growling noise.

Too late Conrart realized it probably wasn't the best joke to make. And even if it had been, Gwendel did not look like he was in the mood for jokes right now.

"In any event, Anissina's invention did not work." Gwendel stated while giving Conrart a death glare. "Which brings up the problem: we need to have a concrete plan in order to deal with these mosquitoes. We cannot just let Anissina do as she pleases and hope one of her inventions work. What if all of her inventions fail?" Gwendel paused to let the implications of that possibility sink in.

Conrart thought for a while until he remembered something, "We could ask Yuuri to bring us bug spray from Earth." There. Problem solved.

"Bug spray?" Gwendel asked.

"When I was on Earth Dr. Rodriguez showed me how to use bug spray. It keeps mosquitoes from biting you."

"Hmm" Gwendel mused, "That might be a possibility."

"I still don't understand why everyone wants to kill his majesty's noble creatures." Gunter said "How could anything from his majesty's world be terrible?"

"José told me that they spread diseases." Conrart said. "And it itches a lot after they bite." He added.

Gunter thought for a few minutes, processing the information. "Oh how terrible for his majesty!" Gunter exclaimed at last.

Gwendel's eye twitched and he rubbed the sides of his forehead.

"Conrart, you will talk with his Majesty and the Great Sage about bringing something back from Earth to get rid of the mosquitoes."

"Of course."

"Gunter, you will supervise Anissina's inventions in order to make sure that they are…responsible."

Gunter started to protest, then stopped when he saw the look Gwendel was giving him.

"Well then, now we have a plan." Gwendel said, and the frown on his face decreased slightly.

"If you will excuse me, I will go speak with his Majesty and his Eminence about bringing something from Earth." Conrart said.

As he walked off to search for the Maoh, Conrart reflected that it was interesting how one's perspective could change in a short amount of time. He now felt as if he could be very instrumental in helping Yuuri solve the mosquito problem.

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><p><strong>Conrart's Bug Jokes<strong>

Why did the bees go on strike?  
>Because they wanted more honey and shorter working flowers!<p>

Why are spiders good baseball players?  
>Because they know how to catch flies.<p>

What is the difference between a mosquito and a fly?  
>Try sewing buttons on a mosquito!<p>

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><p><strong>AN: **

Thank you for reading (and making it this far in the story). Please review!


	6. Mosquito Hunting with Anissina

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kyo kara Maoh. This is a fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended

_Muchas gracias por tus hermosas palabras, Paula. Bueno, aquí viene el próximo capítulo. Espero que te guste…_

**Author's Notes:** I made a few minor changes in earlier chapters. I'm also going to try and find a beta for this story eventually. I will finish it first though (I think it will be around 12+ chapters at this point). Thank you for your patience.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Mosquito Hunting with Anissina<strong>

Her blue eyes sparkled as Anissina contemplated the insect in front of her. It was dark black with a single white stripe running down the top of the thorax. A few more white spots and stripes were on the side. The slender abdomen was marked with thin silvery white bands. The hind legs were longer than the other four legs and stuck out behind the insect. Its hind legs twitched slightly, as if possibly sensing danger. It was so minute, so complex, so intriguing…

She paused for a brief second, then with a single swift movement _clomp_! brought the jar she had been holding down over the insect. She slipped the lid under and fastened it closed. The mosquito was trapped. "Ha! Gotcha!" she said happily. She watched the insect fly around confusedly for a few seconds, then she added the jar to a basket of other jars that she had by her side. _Just about enough_. She thought.

"Anissina!" a young girl's voice called. "I found another one!"

"Good job, Greta." Anissina said as she walked over toward the flower garden where Greta was standing and pointing excitedly.

Anissina was currently helping Murata search the castle grounds for any signs of mosquitoes. Murata said he would look for the larvae while she would find and capture the adults since she already knew what they looked like.

As soon as Greta had found out what they were up to, she had insisted on helping Anissina.

"Can I catch this one?" Greta asked with her big brown eyes looking pleadingly up at Anissina. The insect was perched on the edge of a flower leaf, seemingly oblivious to Greta's excited shouting.

"Of course you can!" Anissina exclaimed happily, while handing an empty jar to Greta. "Here, hold the jar like this." She said while guiding Greta's hand. "Now, move slowly, so you don't scare it away. And when you're close enough, bring it down really fast!"

Greta followed her instructions. When she finished, the jar was open-side down in the dirt with a torn piece of leaf inside. Looking closer, they could see the tiny insect flying around near the highest part of the jar. "I did it! I caught one!" she squealed.

"Excellent job!" Anissina praised, as she carefully lifted the jar, fastened on the lid and then added the jar to the basket. "I think we have enough now. Let's go find his Eminence."

"Okay." Greta replied. And they headed back towards the castle.

Anissina always loved spending time with Greta. It was good for young children to learn that science and inventing were fun. She sometimes wished more people in the castle felt that way.

-ooooo-ooooo-

They found Murata near one of the windows of the castle kitchen. He had what looked like an old, discarded cooking pot. It was slightly mossy and dirty, covered in dents, and leaning to one side.

"I found this while searching the area." He said while the sun glinted of off his glasses and obscured his eyes. "Do you notice anything unusual?" he asked Anissina, while indicating the water inside of the old cooking pot for her to inspect.

Anissina looked at the water. It was very dirty. The cooking pot had probably been left outside and eventually filled with rain water. But there had to be more.

Something caught her eye. A slight movement within the water? She looked closer. There it was! There was something threadlike moving through the water.

"There's something moving!" she shouted excitedly. "It's tiny, and has little spines?"

"Very good." Said Murata. "That," he indicated the moving thing, "is a mosquito larva."

"Can I see?" asked Greta, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Certainly!" said Anissina, holding down the cooking pot, so that Greta could look inside.

"Wow, it's so tiny." Greta said, while staring. "But it doesn't look like a baby mosquito."

"That's because they change as they grow." Explained Murata.

"Like the bearbees?" Anissina asked, having a sudden moment of inspiration.

"Exactly."

Then Anissina thought of something. "Do they make cocoons like the bearbees too?"

Murata paused, "Not exactly, but they do change into something like that." He pointed towards the water again. "See this one?" he asked.

Greta and Anissina both leaned over to look at the water and it was several minutes before they figured out which swimming thing he meant. It looked like a flattened ball with a curled tail hanging out. It spun around in circles as it swam up or down in the water.

"You mean the round thing that's spinning around?" Anissina asked.

"Yes."

"Wow." Said Greta. She looked lost in thought for a few minutes as she continued to watch the immature mosquitoes. "Are they going to hatch and fly away...like the bearbees?" she eventually asked.

"Yes, after a few days, those "round things" will hatch and the adult mosquito will emerge." Murata confirmed.

Anissina couldn't wait to watch them hatch. That would be fun! Then she remembered she had to take the mosquitoes back to her lab.

"Greta, do you want to help me carry some of these jars back to my lab?" Anissina asked while lifting the cooking pot. "I'll carry the baby mosquitoes!"

"Okay!" Greta said while picking up a few of the jars and running towards the castle.

"Thank you for explaining all those things about the mosquito, your Eminence." Said Anissina before leaving.

"No problem." Replied Murata. "I'll join you later in the lab to explain more. Right now however, I think I need to have a talk with Effie, Doria, Lasagna, and Sangria about not throwing cooking pots and other containers where they can get filled with rainwater." The sun glinted of off Murata's glasses, and for a moment, he looked just a little bit scary.

-ooooo-ooooo-

Anissina stacked the jars of mosquitoes on a shelf in her lab. With Murata's help she would set up suitable environments for the mosquitoes. Then she could study them and learn more about them. Once she learned more, she was certain she could come up with new ideas for an invention to save the day.

* * *

><p><strong>Murata's fun fun mosquito facts<strong>

The buzzing whine that mosquitoes make is produced by the frequency of their wing beats.

Male and female mosquitoes have different wing beat frequencies.

Males are attracted by the frequency of the female wing beat.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thanks for reading! The next chapter will have more humor and fewer bugs. I promise!


	7. Gwendel's Headache

_Paula, me hace feliz que aprendiste algo sobre los insectos. (Y cuando lei su comentario, aprendi algo sobre las novelas de KKM ¡Qué interesante! Me gustaría leer las novels, pero no puedo leer el japonés.) Y como siempre, muchas gracias por dejar un comentario._

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kyo kara Maoh. And the first pun used in this chapter belongs to the amazing Groucho Marx.

**Author's Notes**: This chapter was a little harder to get right. I hope Gwendel isn't too OOC, he's just having a bad day.

* * *

><p><em>He was under a lot of pressure almost all the time. He not only had his own duties to attend to, but also the leftover duties of the young king. At the same time, he was also expected to save the day when any sort of crisis arose. This resulted in massive tension headaches. He would often knit in order to relieve some of the tension. Knitting forced him to relax his hand a little, and the rest of his body usually followed. <em>

_He scowled as he thought over the events of the past few days. First, the Great Sage had caused a ruckus in his office and ruined all the paperwork that the king had finally managed to get signed. He knitted faster just thinking about it. Then he had found out from them that yet another crisis had arisen. He had initially decided to let the two boys deal with it, but that had caused even more trouble. Finally he had been forced to step in and make Conrart and Gunter take control of the situation in a more orderly manner. He hoped that decision wouldn't turn out to be a mistake. _

-oooo-oooo-

After Anissina learned from Murata that the male mosquito is attracted to the pitch of the female mosquito's whining buzz (caused by wing beats), she invented the I-call-mosquitoes-and-they-come-kun. It was a large, loudspeaker-shaped device with a net on the bottom in order to trap as many of the insects as possible when they were attracted close by the noise.

A high-pitched persistent whining hum filled the castle. Five hours later, not a single mosquito had appeared. All that happened was a bunch of headaches all over the castle.

"I must have gotten the sound wrong." Anissina mused. "Oh well, time to try something else!" she concluded happily.

-oooo-oooo-

**Chapter 7: Gwendel's Headache Gets Worse**

Sometimes Lord Gwendel von Voltaire felt as if he was the only sane man in a castle full of lunatics. He scowled as he thought of one certain lunatic in particular. He had finally managed to recover from her last crazy experiment. And then she had to go and invent something even more obnoxious.

He rubbed the sides of his forehead. The headache that he now had as a result of the whining sound all morning was not helping him catch up on his paperwork.

Gunter was supposed to prevent something like this from happening.

He scowled, as if on cue, Gunter entered the room. The lavender-haired main looked exhausted.

"Oh Gwendel, I'm so sorry." Gunter began. "Anissina said his excellency the Great Sage helped her come up with the idea…"

"Gunter, go rest." Gwendel commanded as he continued to sign and organize the papers on his desk. He was not in the mood to deal with Gunter.

"I just wanted to help his Majesty…" Gunter continued.

"I'm sure his Majesty would want you to rest if you are tired." Gwendel suggested.

Before Gunter could reply, a thumping and crashing sound interrupted, as the doors to Gwendel's office were thrown open and the Great Sage walked in followed by Conrart and the Maou. Gwendel frowned. He hadn't been expecting to meet with them until later. He frowned again as he made a mental note to have a talk with the Sage about knocking before entering his office.

As expected, Gunter instantly turned his attention to Yuuri. "Oh Majesty!" Gunter wailed. "I, Gunter have been working tirelessly with Lady Anissina all day. I'm sorry if her failed experiment caused your majesty any distress."

Yuuri looked embarrassed, "No, that's okay Gunter. I uh, really appreciate what you and Anissina are doing."

"Oh your Majesty is too kind to his loyal servants!" Gunter exclaimed while giving Yuuri a hug.

Yuuri's face turned red and he tried to pry himself loose from Gunter's overly enthusiastic embrace.

"Gunter, let go of his Majesty." Gwendel commanded. His headache felt as if it was starting to get worse. "I have things I need to discuss with his majesty and the Great Sage."

Gunter let go of Yuuri. "Oh, can I listen too? I would love to learn all about his Majesty's noble efforts to rid our kingdom of the ferocious beast that followed him from his world. His Majesty is so patient with his loyal servants. Even when Anissina's inventions fail to produce results, he thanks us for the effort. How remarkable, how noble, how kingly…"

Gwendel decided that he would have to take control of the situation if anything was ever to be accomplished. He cleared his throat. "We have important things to discuss right now." He said while looking at Yuuri, Murata, and Conrart. "Gunter, you may stay, but ONLY if you do not interrupt." That was probably a mistake, but he might as well give in to the man since his previous efforts at getting him to leave had failed.

Gunter sat down happily in a chair, folded his hands together, crossed his legs, and looked up attentively.

Gwendel ignored Gunter, and looked at Murata, Yuuri and Conrart instead.

"Well," he began, "since Anissina has obviously made no progress, I think it might be time…"

"Actually," Murata interrupted, "Anissina's invention _should_ have worked." He put a finger to his chin and thought for a minute. "She must have been slightly off with the frequency though. Come to think of it, we probably shouldn't have been able to hear the noise at all if it had been correct." He looked at Gwendel, then continued, "I still think that trying to attract and trap the mosquitoes is our best chance of getting rid of them."

Gwendel glared. "Judging from the results of Lady von Karbelnikoff's latest experiment, I highly doubt that continuing to try and attract mosquitoes would be productive."

"But maybe not in the same way." Murata explained. "There are other ways to attract mosquitoes. There is a fruit on Earth called a banana that contains a chemical that can be used to attract insects like bees and mosquitoes."

Conrart sat up straighter and suddenly looked interested. "And fruit flies?" he asked.

Murata looked confused. "Umm, yes, but why?"

"I was just wondering if something I had heard while I was on Earth was true."

"What did you hear while on Earth, Lord Weller?" Murata asked.

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." Conrart said smugly.

Murata and Yuuri groaned simultaneously.

It took Gwendel a moment to understand what had been said. His eye twitched. He was not amused. He sometimes wondered if maybe his younger brother had suffered head trauma while on Earth. That might explain the atrocious sense of humor that he had returned with.

"I don't understand." Gunter complained. "What are time flies?"

"Gunter, you promised to be quiet!" Gwendel snapped. Explaining the pun would take too long and possibly lead to other puns. He turned to his brother, "Conrart, I wish you would take this problem seriously. We do not have time for jokes."

"But his Majesty has already solved the problem." Conrart stated.

"What?"

"We are going to Earth to bring back bug-spray."

Yuuri smiled and nodded. Murata stared at a point on the ceiling.

Gunter could not hold back any longer, "Oh Majesty, how wonderful!" He gushed. "You have single-handedly found a solution to our dire problem. Even where his loyal servants have failed, his Majesty will always succeed. How noble, how elegant… "

Gwendel glared at Gunter and turned to Murata "Well then, when will you be leaving? I assume you've also informed Shinou of your plans."

Murata looked slightly uncomfortable. "Well, not exactly…"

"You haven't even informed Shinou yet?" Gwendel demanded.

Murata laughed nervously, "Well you see, I've been so busy with this problem that I haven't had time to go back to the temple recently. And I also didn't want to bother Shinou until we had tried other methods to get rid of the mosquitoes."

Gwendel frowned. Honestly was everyone else so irresponsible that he had to take charge all the time? "Perhaps you should consult with Shinou before you plan your trip to Earth, your Eminence." He said coldly.

Murata pushed his glasses up farther on his nose. "Of course, Lord von Voltaire."

"Oh how exciting." Gunter started, "His Majesty and the Great Sage are about to start their noble quest…"

"The meeting is over." Gwendel grumbled in his best "scary Gwendel" voice. Even though he had a feeling that he had missed something and had not accomplished much, there was no way that he could continue with his current headache. Come to think of it, he should probably knit for a while before going back to his paperwork.

-oooo-oooo-

Gwendel watched with relief as everyone started to leave his office. Then he remembered something that had been bothering him. "Conrart, can I speak with you for a minute?" He asked before his brother left the room.

"Of course, Gwendel."

"Conrart, I would appreciate an attempt to be more serious about this situation on your part." He paused, as he approached the issue that had been nagging him. "You usually don't tell so many jokes, what is going on?"

Conrart looked surprised. "Gwendel, I was just trying something." he said innocently.

"What?" Gwendel asked, impatiently.

"Well, I thought maybe this month I would try telling you ten different puns, to see if any of them could make you laugh."

"Really?" Gwendel asked. He didn't remember ten different puns. Maybe he would have to pay closer attention to the things his brother said. On the other hand, it was probably better for his health if he didn't catch the puns.

"Yes, but unfortunately, no pun in-ten-did." Conrart finished.

* * *

><p><strong>Murata's fun fun Insect fact<strong>

Isopentyl acetate is a chemical found in bananas that attracts mosquitoes (along with other things like CO2 and dark colors). It is also an alarm pheromone for honey bees. So it probably wouldn't be a good idea to eat a banana in front of a honey bee hive if you don't like getting stung.

-ooo-ooo-

**_A note from Lord Gwendel von Voltaire_**

_To the esteemed readers of "Invasion of the Culicids",_

_It has recently come to my attention that certain "mosquito facts" have been left at the end of every chapter without any references or links in order to verify the aforementioned "facts". Such an act is inexcusably irresponsible. Rest assured that the parties culpable for this flagrant breach of etiquette will be summarily dealt with. From this point forth, links to relevant sources of information will be provided on the author's profile page._

_Please accept my sincere apologies for this horrendous oversight. _

_Respectfully,_

_Lord Gwendel von Voltaire_


	8. Wolfram Learns a Lesson

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kyo kara Maoh.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: Wolfram Learns a Lesson<strong>

Murata grimaced as he prepared to enter the temple. He had not been looking forward to this. He walked up the steps to the entrance with Yuuri and Wolfram.

Ulrike was waiting at the entrance. "Shinou has been expecting you." She frowned slightly and looked apologetically over at Wolfram. "He made it very clear that he was only expecting the Sage and the Maou. You'll have to wait outside."

Wolfram looked as if he was going to argue for a minute, then turned away and stalked off while angrily muttering something about "fickle kings".

-oooo-oooo-

"Well, well my Sage," the original king said as he walked out of the shadows of the castle, "I haven't seen you in a while. Have you become bored with my company? Or maybe you're avoiding me?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"Shinou." Murata greeted the king.

"Uh, ha, ha, ha, Shinou." Yuuri began, "We have this mosquito problem, and it started from me traveling between the two worlds, but maybe you already know about it since you were the one who brought me here before and we thought maybe you could help." Yuuri scratched his head nervously. "Uhh, since it might be sort of your fault too." He added.

Murata winced. Sometimes Yuuri had absolutely no tact.

Shinou's eyes narrowed. "It's not my fault you happened to be in cesspools teeming with vermin when I opened the portal between the worlds."

Yuuri paled and didn't say anything.

"Of course it's not your fault," Murata began diplomatically, "We would appreciate any help that or insight that you could provide. We've been trying to…"

"I know." Shinou interrupted impatiently.

Murata pushed his glasses up farther on his nose. So Shinou had been aware of the problem and their efforts to fix it? Not that he was surprised.

"Then maybe you could help us." Yuuri blurted out.

Shinou looked slightly annoyed. Murata hoped Yuuri didn't say anything else to bring out the king's temper.

Yuuri face suddenly brightened and he looked as if something had just occurred to him. "Can you use your maryoku to transport all the mosquitoes back to earth?" Yuuri asked hopefully.

"No."

"Aren't you even going to try?" Murata demanded. After all, it was one of the more interesting ideas that Yuuri had come up with. "Maybe if you and Yuuri…"

"Why should I?" Shinou asked, his expression darkening a little.

Murata stepped back. He knew when the king was being serious.

"It's Yuuri's responsibility." Shinou added. "Besides, you two seem to be doing well enough on your own, my Sage." he said, his expression becoming slightly playful again.

Murata was puzzled. All of Anissina's inventions had been failures so far. They were running out of possibilities and in the meantime the mosquito population was most likely growing exponentially. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

"Think about it. You know the answer."

"But nothing we've done has worked." Murata said. "The only option we have left is to go to Earth and try to find something that will get rid of them."

"Exactly."

"So we are going to find the answer on Earth?" Murata asked hopefully.

"You should know better than to ask me that. You are closer than you think, though."

Murata frowned, "Shinou, do you know something you're not telling us?"

The king smirked, "Only that things are about to get a lot more interesting."

Murata clenched his fists in frustration. Sometimes Shinou really made him angry!

-oooo-oooo-

Wolfram impatiently waited outside Shinou's temple near the forest while his fiancé and the Great Sage talked with the original king. He was slightly annoyed that he hadn't been allowed to keep an eye on his fiancé in the temple. Who knew what things Shinou, Murata, or the shrine maidens could be up to? As the royal fiancé it was his duty to protect Yuuri from all the perverts that were inexplicably drawn to him. It was usually one of the only things Wolfram was allowed to do. And now he had to wait outside and do nothing. Not that the current topic of discussion wouldn't have bored him to death even if he had been allowed in the temple.

He didn't understand what all this ruckus was about the tiny bug from Yuuri's world. Something that tiny and wimpy was going to hurt him? Yeah right!

Big deal. All you had to do to one of those wimpy things when it flew up to you was squish it. He'd already shown Anissina and Gunter how it was done. How hard could it be? But no, they didn't listen to him. Anissina went on inventing her crazy inventions, (but at least she kept Greta entertained). Yuuri and Ken kept running around like it was the end of the world. Even his brothers and Gunter acted as if there was a serious problem. Did they even bother to ask _him_ for help? Of course not.

Wolfram's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp prickling sensation on his neck.

"Ouch!" What was that? He slapped angrily where he knew the insect would be, but found nothing. It was gone already? Of all the cowardly sneak attacks…

Then he felt another on his thigh, and one on his arm. Both were out of sight by the time he looked.

He drew his sword. "Show yourself you WIMPS!" he shouted.

The only reply was another pinprick on his ear. He reflexively slapped at the ear. As expected the insect was already gone. He looked around and managed to catch sight of a small insect hovering a few feet away. He swung his sword at it, but the tiny dark colored insect easily flitted out of reach.

He felt another pinprick on his ankle. And another on his calf. At the same time he felt yet another on his wrist.

Wolfram had about had enough. He would burn down the whole damn forest if he had to. But he was getting rid of these cowardly, sneaky, blood-sucking, WIMPS!

He held up his hand and began to summon his fire element.

"Wolfram, STOP!"

Wolfram turned at the noise. Ken and Yuuri were running up to him with horrified expressions on their faces.

"What are you doing?" Yuuri asked when he reached Wolfram.

"Getting rid of the little bloodsuckers." He said coldly as he reached his hand up again in preparation of summoning the fire.

"You're going to burn down the whole forest?" Yuuri asked incredulously.

"If I have to." Wolfram said haughtily. "I'd be solving all your problems too. Or don't you want help from your own fiancé?" his voice lowered. "You seem to want help from everyone else but me."

"Wolfram," Yuuri started, "This isn't what I want. I don't want you to burn down the whole forest just to kill a few bugs. I want to work with _everyone_, and maybe, together we can come up with a solution to the problem. You can help too. Just don't burn down the forest."

Wolfram looked at Yuuri for a moment. Then he lowered his hand. "Fine." He huffed. "I won't burn down the forest if that's what you want. Even though it would solve all your problems."

"Thank you, Wolfram." Yuuri said, looking relieved.

Wolfram just made a "_Hmmph!_" sound in reply as he ran a hand through his hair and started walking back towards the castle.

-oooo-oooo-

"Would it really have solved the mosquito problem?" Yuuri asked in a whisper. "Burning the forest down I mean." He clarified.

"Of course not, Shibuya. A few adult mosquitoes might have been killed. But there are still the larvae." Murata looked to see if Yuuri understood.

"What if we emptied out all the containers of water?" Yuuri asked.

"That's a pretty good idea," Ken said. "But we would need to do something else as well. I don't think the infestation is only limited to the areas close to the temple."

They walked in silence, both thinking.

"So we really have to go to Earth?" Yuuri asked.

"It seems that way." Murata answered.

From ahead of them a voice called "_Yuuri_, something itches."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's<strong>**Note**: If you remember a certain flashback a few chapters ago, you might be thinking: "But Captain Zángano, how can the mosquitoes that bit Wolfram zip around like stealth fighters while the ones that bit Conrart just sat on his arm?"

The answer is simple. They were bitten by two different species of mosquito! _Aedes__albopictus_ (the one that invaded Shin Makoku and just bit Wolfram) is a fast little thing. If you ever notice one trying to bite you, you'll see that they zoom in and out, fleeing at the slightest movement, hovering a few feet away, and then closing in to bite again. Most mosquitoes that specialize in taking their bloodmeals from humans tend to be fast and hard to swat.

In contrast, there are other species of mosquitoes that are large and slow, since they don't normally feed on humans (they will take advantage of any mammal that comes their way though). Since Conrart was on Earth when he was bit, any number of mosquito species (including _Coquillettidia__perturbans__and__Aedes__vexans)_could have been responsible.

See? Science doesn't always have to suffer for dramatic effect.


	9. Yozak Returns

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kyo kara Maoh.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Yozak Returns<strong>

After spending a week riding near Shin Makoku's border with the human lands, he was glad to be returning. He was tired, hungry, and needed a bath. And he was uncomfortably itchy.

Yozak absentmindedly scratched his stomach and sighed.

He seemed to have caught the unusual disease that had mysteriously appeared in the human lands. Some of the humans claimed the disease came from an invisible flying demon creature. That was just silly though. Most likely the disease came as a result of poor hygiene. Murata had once explained to him that being dirty could cause diseases. He frowned. Maybe he would have to be quarantined. That would be boring. But at least he would have a funny story to tell later. And teasing the healers could be fun sometimes too.

Yozak stretched in his saddle. Only another half-hour left until he was back at the castle and reporting to Gwendel. Then he could have a bath and go to bed. He rode on silently. Yozak didn't like boring silence. He was only quiet when it was necessary for spy-work. He started to sing to his horse to pass the time.

ooooo-ooooo-

As Yozak finally rode into the castle courtyard, he noticed that a group of people were gathered outside. They appeared to be arguing. Gwendel was among them. _Well good_, he thought, _I can get my report done right here and not waste any time_.

He rode up and reigned in his horse. "Did anyone miss me?" he asked cheerfully.

All eyes were on him. Of course this couldn't happen when he had something to say like "I defeated the bandits single-handedly – no need to worry." No, a crowd like this would only gather and give him their undivided attention when the most interesting thing he had to say was "I think I caught some sort of disease. Do you want to see the rash?"

"Yozak," Murata said while looking at him, "What are those bumps?"

Of course that would be the first thing the kid noticed.

"I haven't even gotten down off my horse yet, and already I'm being interrogated? Aren't you going to ask how my trip was?" Yozak said, pretending to be offended.

Murata glancing meaningfully at Yuuri and Gwendel, but didn't say anything. Even Anissina and Wolfram were uncharacteristically quiet. Yozak had a feeling he was missing something. What had happened while he had been gone?

"Well, get down off your horse then, if that's what you want to do." Gwendel said gruffly.

Yozak almost laughed. And to think that people sometimes claimed that Gwendel had no sense of humor!

Yozak dismounted and let one of the soldiers take his horse to the stables.

Everyone was still staring at him.

Finally Murata pointed to a red welt on the side of Yozak's neck, "Where did you get that, Yozak?" he asked.

"Ehhh!" Yozak said while putting his hands up in the air. "At least let me take a bath before asking questions about my personal appearance. I haven't bathed in over a week." He complained dramatically. If everyone was going to stare at him, he would at least give them a show.

"Yozak, stop this nonsense and report!" Gwendel commanded.

Yozak wondered what had happened recently to put Gwendel in such a bad mood.

"On what?" Yozak asked sulkily.

"Answer the Great Sage's question for starters." Gwendel growled.

Gwendel was definitely not in the mood for silly antics. "I think I caught a disease from the human lands." Yozak said while scratching his head.

"What makes you think that?" asked Murata.

"Well, there were some other humans that had the disease too."

"Did they know where it came from?"

"Uhh, they said it came from an invisible flying demon creature." Yozak said sheepishly.

Serious stares and meaningful looks abounded among Yozak's audience. He had definitely missed something.

"Did you notice anything unusual?" Murata continued.

Yozak thought briefly. "Not that I remember." He replied.

"Does it itch?" Yuuri asked.

Now that was an unusual question. Maybe he could get some sympathy. "It itches a lot." He said miserably. He noticed that Conrart was trying not to laugh at him. Yozak made a mental note to get back at his friend later for being so amused at his misfortune.

More importantly he had to figure out what was up with everyone else. "What's going on?" he asked.

"It seems that a…creature from his Highness' world has entered ours." Gwendel began. "From your report it sounds as if this creature has spread to the human lands."

"What?" Yozak asked, confused. "I thought diseases came from bad hygiene."

"It's not a disease." Murata explained. "The bumps are insect bites from a mosquito." He pushed his glasses back on his nose. "And if they have reached the human lands already, we have a more serious problem than we originally thought."

Yozak was horrified. The 'winged demon creature' story was at least partially correct. This incident could be used by some humans as an excuse to go to war if things really got bad. "What are you planning on doing?" he asked.

"Anissina has been working on some inventions to try and control the mosquitoes." Murata stated, "I also plan on trying to find a technique from Earth that could be used against the mosquitoes."

"Don't forget me!" Wolfram interjected. "I'm going to Earth too."

"That's hardly fair," Anissina argued, "I should get to go instead since I need to be inspired for my inventions."

"But Anissina," Yuuri said. "We need you to stay here and keep working on your inventions. Besides, I don't want to take a lot of people with me. It makes opening the portal harder."

"Wimp." Commented Wolfram.

So that's what they had been arguing about when he had ridden up.

"I've never even been to Earth before." Anissina complained. "Come to think of it, you never take any women on your trips to Earth. Why is that?"

Yuuri looked nervous. "Uhhh, it's because you're needed here at the castle." He blurted out. "We already have enough inventions on Earth."

Anissina did not look happy.

"I only went on one trip." Gunter said, "And I was separated from his Majesty the whole time. It was horrible." Gunter paused. "But I would gladly accompany his Majesty on his noble quest to rid our world of this ferocious beast."

Yozak reflected that he had never traveled to Earth. He had lost track of how many times Wolfram and Conrart had been picked to go. Not that he was jealous, of course. But it would be interesting to see another world. Everyone else was asking to go. He might as well take the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon.

"Oh, can I go too?" Yozak asked. "I've never been to Earth."

Gwendel looked as if he was about to spontaneously combust. "The only ones traveling to Earth will be the Great Sage, the Maou, Conrart, and Wolfram." He glared at everyone. "That is final. The rest of you: stop complaining, you are only wasting time."

Anissina and Gunter looked disappointed.

Yozak remembered something. "Should I go see Gisela?" he asked "I'm still itchy."

"For some reason her healing powers won't work against the mosquito bites." Anissina said. "She already tried on Wolfram."

Then suddenly the inventor looked extremely happy. "You could come to my lab later and help me try out some potions that I've been working with that might cure the itching."

"Okay." Yozak agreed with a smile. Well, if he couldn't go to Earth, at least he could go to Anissina's lab. That was guaranteed to not be boring. Yozak was one of the few people who were not afraid of the brilliant inventor. She was entertaining, talkative, and passionate. Who wouldn't want to spend time with Anissina?

And besides, he could never be used to test out her inventions since he didn't have any maryoku!

* * *

><p><strong>Murata's Fun Fun Mosquito Facts<strong>

The swelling of a mosquito bite results from the body's immune response to proteins that are in the mosquito's saliva.

Different people can have very different responses to the same mosquito. Some people may swell up a lot, while others may barely have a reaction.

Usually, after getting a lot of mosquito bites over a period of time, the swelling is not as noticeable.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>: Thanks for reading!

The next few chapters will take place on Earth. Hopefully that will be amusing.

_Paula - Thanks for the vinegar information. I might have Miko tell them about that._


	10. Yuuri Travels to Earth

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kyo kara Maoh.

**Author's Note: **Thank you to everyone who reviewed.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: Yuuri travels to Earth.<strong>

In the movies people often looked tranquil and serene when they swam underwater. Effortlessly gliding. Reality, unfortunately, was nothing like those movies.

Traveling between the two worlds was draining. Magically, because it required him to use some of his maryoku, and physically, since he traveled through water for the duration of the trip. After all, Yuuri was half-human. And he was a baseball player, not a professional swimmer. Yes, water was his element. But that didn't change the fact that he couldn't breathe underwater.

He had gotten used to traveling, to some degree. But it still wasn't easy. Especially when he had three other people to take along with him.

Yuuri forced himself to relax as he took a deep breath. He concentrated his power on returning home. A whirlpool started to form, encircling Yuuri and the others. The water swirled faster, and they were pulled down, submerged underneath the water and on their way to Earth.

His cheeks puffed as he strategically conserved the last breath he had taken. Bubbles streamed out of his nose as he tried to release the pressure building up in his chest.

Then he was struggling upwards, the all-consuming need to take in air dominating his thoughts. Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to hold his breath any longer, he surfaced, reflexively inhaling. Yuuri felt the slight burning sensation as air entered his lungs. He heard the splashes as the others surfaced as well, the gasps as they inhaled.

When Yuuri caught his breath, he looked around. The others had made it safely. _Good_.

They had arrived in the bathtub. His mother usually kept it filled constantly while he was in Shin Makoku in the hopes that he would return. She probably wasn't expecting him back so soon, but there was still some water left in the tub. Not as much as usual though. The amount didn't matter though. He had once traveled to Shin Makoku in a puddle.

"This water's pretty shallow." Yuuri commented.

"At least we don't have a deeper problem."

Yuuri and Murata both groaned. _Why did Conrad have to think that puns were funny? And lame puns too?_

"Yuu-chan…!" A hopeful voice called.

The door to the bathroom was thrown open and he was enthusiastically embraced by his mother. Fortunately they had been able to wear clothes for this trip.

"Oh Yuu-chan, I missed you so much!" Miko exclaimed. "But you're back a little earlier than I expected." She looked around, realizing that Yuuri had brought Wolfram, Conrad and Murata with him. "But don't worry, there's enough food for everyone!"

His mother looked at him smiling. But then she glanced down and looked annoyed. "Yuu-chan! You're dripping water everywhere. Go dry off and get changed!" Before leaving the bathroom she added, "And when you finish, I'll have some curry ready for you and your friends!"

-ooo-ooo-

Yuuri changed into a dry pair of clothes. He gave a pair to Wolfram. And he sneaked a pair of clothes out of Shori's room for Conrad. He made sure he took the blue t-shirt that Shori was so fond of. Over-protective older brothers deserved to be annoyed once in a while.

He looked around. Murata was no-where in sight. Yuuri sighed. Murata was probably busy helping his mother in the kitchen. He looked at Conrad and Wolfram. It was still early in the day. Maybe they could all play baseball after lunch. Conrad smiled at him. Wolfram absentmindedly scratched his arm and looked annoyed. Then Yuuri remembered why they had traveled to Earth in the first place. _Oh._ Games would probably have to wait until after they bought bug-spray. Yuuri wasn't irresponsible on purpose, he just got distracted by doing fun things sometimes.

-ooo-ooo-

His mother descended upon him when he entered the kitchen. "Yuu-chan! Ken-chan told me that you brought mosquitoes along with you to the other world!"

"Uh, it was an accident!"

"You have to be more careful, Yuu-chan!" Miko scolded.

"Boys are so dirty." Miko complained. "When Yuu-chan was younger, he would always forget to take his shoes off, and then he would track mud all over the house." She said dramatically.

"I'm sure he will manage to find a solution." Conrad said.

Miko smiled at Conrad, then looked over at Wolfram, who was still scratching his mosquito bites. "Wolf-chan! Are those mosquito bites?"

"Uh." Wolfram looked up, surprised to suddenly have Miko's full attention.

"Stop scratching, you'll only make it worse!" she scolded. Then she turned her attention back to Yuuri. "Yuu-chan, did you tell Wolf-chan to put vinegar on the bites to keep them from itching?"

"Uh, no, I forgot." Yuuri said sheepishly.

"So careless." Miko commented. Then she turned back to Wolfram. "Here, let me show you." She said while grabbing Wolfram's arm. She marched him over to the sink and started applying some vinegar with a damp cloth.

"Ow, that hurts!" Wolfram protested.

"Of course it does!" Miko said indignantly. "You've been scratching! Now hold still!"

"It's a good thing Mama-san is taking care of Wolfram." Murata commented. "He could have gotten an infection here with all those tiny cuts from scratching." Murata adjusted his glasses so the light gleamed off of them. "And we wouldn't want that." (1)

Sometimes Yuuri had the feeling that Murata knew more than he was saying.

-ooo-ooo-

After they had finished eating Miko's curry, Murata suggested that they get started working on the mosquito problem. Miko, of course, was curious as to what they were planning on doing.

"First, we are going to buy some bug-spray." Yuuri said proudly.

"Then, I think we should head over to the library to get some books on mosquito control." Murata said. "We still need to come up with a good idea."

"Bug-spray is a good idea!" Yuuri said defensively.

"Bug-spray only keeps mosquitoes from biting. We need to get rid of them" Murata pointed out.

"Hmmm" Miko pondered the problem. Then her face lit up. "What if you could just vacuum them up?" she asked.

"What?" Yuuri exclaimed.

"That's how I used to get rid of the dirt you would track into the house, Yuu-chan. I would have to vacuum it up." She became more excited as she thought of all the possibilities of this idea. "Do you think they have a big magical demon-vacuum cleaner that could just clean all the mosquitoes up?" she asked with wide, excited eyes.

Murata smiled kindly, "That's certainly an unusual idea, Mama-san." Then he turned to Yuuri and the others. "Come on, let's get started, we have a lot to do today."

-ooo-ooo-

"Maybe the 'vacuum cleaner' would be another good idea for Anissina." Yuuri said as they walked down the sidewalk.

"I'm not so sure." Murata replied.

Yuuri frowned, and tried to picture a giant demonic vacuum cleaner sucking up everything in its path. He shuddered. Maybe it was a good thing Anissina had never traveled to Earth.

* * *

><p><strong>Miko's Mosquito Advice<strong>

Putting ice on a mosquito bite can help reduce the inflammation and itching.

You can put something like lemon juice or vinegar on the bite. It will help with the itching, and it will kill bacteria that could cause an infection if you've been scratching (Which you shouldn't! Never scratch! That means you, Wolf-chan!)

If they still keep itching, try using something stronger, like calamine lotion.

And the best advice? Avoid getting bitten!

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>:

(1) With Wolfram having limited to no immunity for bacteria on Earth, having tiny cuts could potentially be dangerous. Not to mention he could also bring the bacteria back to Shin Makoku.

And the idea that will present itself in chapter 12 is entomologically awesome.


	11. Day 1 on Earth

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kyo kara Maoh.

**Author's Note**: Thanks for the reviews! And if you thought the last few puns were bad, they get even worse in this chapter! (Oh, and you might want to look up a picture of a dobsonfly if you don't know what they look like)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: Day 1 on Earth<strong>

No matter how many times Conrart Weller had traveled to Earth, it still felt strange, different, alien. The air smelled different. There were no horses on the streets. The people acted differently. There were some things that were still slightly unsettling. He knew, for example, that they were perfectly safe walking down the street unarmed. That didn't mean that he enjoyed it.

Eventually they approached the convenience store where Yuuri intended to purchase bug-spray. Conrart remembered the first time he had been inside such a store with José. Rows of food, enough to feed an army, filled the shelves. He learned that the food could sit there for long periods of time. But it didn't taste like the stale, dried out food that soldiers ate. When you opened the little packages it tasted freshly cooked and sweet. José had complained that the food that came in brightly colored packages was bad. It didn't taste bad though, so Conrart had simply concluded that sometimes José could be weird.

The artificial indoor florescent lighting, combined with shelves of brightly colored goods, was slightly overwhelming. And Conrart had been in convenience stores before. He imagined it must be even more overwhelming for Wolfram.

Yuuri and Murata headed purposefully towards the back of the store. Conrart followed, then paused as he noticed Wolfram staring fixedly at something on the shelf.

Wolfram impulsively picked up a package, and waved it in front of Conrart's face, "Conrart, what's this?" Wolfram demanded.

Conrart inspected the package a moment before replying, "Microwave popcorn."

"Micre-, Conrart! How am I supposed to know what that means?"

"It is a type of food." Conrart explained simply.

"Oh." Wolfram said, as if that explained everything.

Wolfram picked something else up from the shelf. "Conrart, what's this thing?" he asked. The packaging was brightly colored, but there were no pictures to give a clue as to what might be inside. Perhaps it was another type of food? It was hard to be certain.

"I don't know, Wolfram." Conrart replied.

"Weller! You spent all that time on Earth, and you don't even know what this is?"

"Why don't you try asking his Majesty, Wolfram? I'm sure he knows what it is."

"Hmmph! I never knew I had such an airhead for a brother." Wolfram said as he turned away from the shelf and looked around for Yuuri.

"Yuuri, what's this?"

-ooo-ooo-

After dropping off the bug-spray at home, they headed off for the library. Murata felt a growing sense of trepidation as they approached the library. If it had been up to him, Conrart and Wolfram would have stayed at the house, or even better, in Shin Makoku. Gwendel apparently did not trust Yuuri and Murata to take care of the mosquito problem on their own after all the antics at the castle. Gwendel's solution had been to have Conrart accompany them to Earth. And if Conrart was going to Earth with Yuuri and Murata, there was no way Wolfram would stand to be left behind. Murata sighed as they entered the building. At the very least, Conrart and Wolfram had not caused a scene in the store. All Wolfram had done was demand that Yuuri buy him some food, and that wasn't too bad, all things considered. _Hopefully they would not cause a scene in the library _Murata thought as he felt his chest tighten.

Murata headed straight for the science section. He selected a handful of books, and headed with Yuuri to one of the desks in the study area.

Wolfram and Conrart also sat down and started looking at the books.

"I can't read what it says." Wolfram complained, while flipping through a copy of _Beneficial Insects of the World_.

"That's because it's in his Majesty's language." Conrart explained.

"Why don't they just write it in Mazoku?"

"Look at the pictures." Murata said. "You can ask me or Yuuri what the words mean."

Wolfram gave Murata a slightly dubious look, but started searching for pictures in the book.

"Conrart, what's this thing?" Wolfram asked after a short pause.

"I don't know, Wolfram." Conrart replied serenely.

Wolfram mumbled something under his breath about unobservant older brothers that never learned anything. Then he turned to Yuuri. "What's this creature?" He asked while showing him the picture.

"Gah! What is that thing?" Yuuri exclaimed while looking at the picture.

"It was the first creature I saw in this book that didn't look wimpy." Wolfram said self-righteously.

"It…uh…says it's a dobsonfly." Yuuri said. (1)

Murata looked over.

Yuuri continued reading. "The dobsonfly is beneficial since the larval stage, which is aquatic, preys on other aquatic insects." Yuuri paused. "Hey, do you think maybe this insect would eat the mosquitoes if we brought it to Shin Makoku?" he asked hopefully.

"See?" Wolfram gloated. "I told you it wasn't wimpy."

Murata thought for a minute. "It's hard to say. We need more detailed information on their life cycle." He frowned and looked at the picture again. "And with the humans already talking about a winged demon-creature, I'm not exactly sure that would be the best insect to introduce."

"I'll go see if I can find another book on dobsonflies." Yuuri said as he got up.

Wolfram watched Yuuri leave with narrowed eyes, but soon went back to looking at the pictures in _Beneficial Insects of the World_.

Murata continued to read through his mosquito book. Maybe biological control was the way to go. It was a potentially dangerous route, since it involved introducing yet another Earth species to Shin Makoku. He needed a way to get rid of the mosquito without making things worse. He started reading the section on _Aedes albopictus_. The mosquito was native to Southeast Asia and had invaded other countries such as the United States, Brasil, Italy, and Nigeria. There was nothing written about the mosquito being eradicated from these countries. That was not promising. _Wait_! Maybe Australia…

"Is that the mosquito?" Conrart asked while glancing over at the page Murata was reading.

Wolfram leaned over to get a look.

Murata suppressed a surge of annoyance at the interruption. He knew that Conrart and Wolfram didn't mean to be distracting; they just wanted to better understand the situation and try to help. "Yes, this is _Aedes albopictus_." Murata said.

"Aye-what?" Wolfram asked.

"Aedes…" Conrart began.

Murata wondered if he should tell Conrart he wasn't quite pronouncing the word correctly either. Then he noticed that Conrart had a particular gleam in his eye. _Oh, no_.

"…Aedes, Ae…Iberia." (2) Conrart leaned back in his chair and looked satisfied with himself. "Maybe we should go to Iberia." He suggested.

"You're not making any sense, Conrart!" Wolfram pointed out.

Murata cringed, but didn't react. Maybe a lack of reaction would put a stop to the puns. He decided to try and concentrate on reading instead.

After a few minutes, Murata glanced up from the mosquito control book he was reading and noticed that Yuuri was talking with a girl from school. He looked like he was probably thanking her for helping him find a book. Unfortunately, Wolfram also noticed.

"YUURI, YOU CHEATING WIMP!" Wolfram roared.

Heads turned at the noise. Disapproving stares settled upon the three individuals seated at the desk. They now had the attention of every single person in the Library.

Yuuri jumped and dropped the book he had been holding.

"Wolfram!" Murata whispered angrily. "You need to be quiet in a library."

-ooo-ooo-

Murata's cheeks still felt hot as they left the library. It was bad enough that Wolfram had made a scene. Even worse that one of the librarians had asked them to leave since there had been complaints about the amount of noise they had been making. Fortunately they had been allowed to check out some of the mosquito control books. Hopefully Murata would be allowed back into the library next time he had to work on a school report.

"My feet hurt." Wolfram complained after a while.

"Time wounds all heels." Conrart said.

Murata groaned. _Three times in one day!_

-ooo-ooo-

Shori Shibuya was looking forward to having a relaxing dinner, and then spending the rest of his evening playing his computer simulation game. He almost smiled at the thought. He opened the front door to the house. He frowned as he heard voices coming from the kitchen.

Shori was pleased that Yuuri had come home. He was not pleased that two people from Shin Makoku were also with him. And Yuuri's friend, Ken Murata was also present. Shori's eyes narrowed. Something was up. He sat down at the table. He noticed with annoyance that one of Yuuri's followers from Shin Makoku was wearing a certain blue t-shirt that had been difficult to find.

Eventually the topic of conversation turned to a certain problem that had arisen in Shin Makoku thanks to Yuuri's ability to travel through water.

"And so they're trying to blame Yuu-chan." Shori said coldly. "It's just as I expected. Don't you think it's their fault for forcing him to travel there before he was ready?"

"It's not like that, Shori!" Yuuri exclaimed.

"Yuu-chan! Don't shout at the table, you'll spoil your dinner!" Miko scolded.

"I'm finished eating." Shori said while standing up abruptly. "If you will excuse me, I have a lot of studying to finish."

He needed more time to think over this recent development and plan a possible strategy. Whatever happened, he would make certain that Yuuri stayed safe.

* * *

><p><strong>Murata's fun fun mosquito facts<strong>

Mosquitoes are usually considered micro-predators rather than parasites. One reason is that they don't live on their host. Another reason is they would kill their prey if they could, only they aren't big enough!

In northern Canada, hordes of mosquitoes of the genus _Ochlerotatus_ have been calculated to bite an exposed human forearm at rates of up to 300 bites per minute! (At this rate, half of the total blood volume in a human body theoretically would be depleted in about 90 minutes.)

And remember the fact that stated that ONLY female mosquitoes drink blood? Well, that is true…usually. In rare cases, male mosquitoes have been documented to take a blood meal. (I wonder if that's the insect equivalent of cross-dressing?)

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes<strong>:

(1) I couldn't help including a Megalopteran in this story! (Even if only in a picture) I don't think it would work very well for mosquito control though (But we will find out in the next chapter).

(2) In most English speaking countries, an acceptable pronunciation of the genus name Aedes is to pronounce it like the word "eighties" (It depends on the mosquito biologist you are currently talking to though). However, the latin pronunciation of the word sounds more like an English "I" (but softer and longer). Pronunciation varies slightly depending on the country. "Iberia" can also be read with either an anglicized or latin pronunciation. Since the pun relies on the fact that the genus name is being mangled, (Iberia should never sound exactly like Aedes), it can work in a variety of ways. Yes, this could in fact be considered a bilingual pun! And it's probably also the least funny pun in the entire story.


	12. Day 2 on Earth

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kyo kara Maoh or Mothra. And as a legend, the Mothman is part of the public domain.

**Warning**: This chapter is the main reason for _Invasion of the Culicids'_ teen rating. It contains a biological concept that may not be appropriate for younger readers. Even worse, this concept is then used as the basis for horrible puns and crude attempts at humor. Read at your own risk!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12: Day 2 on Earth: Murata has an Epiphany<strong>

Wolfram munched his microwave popcorn. Sure, the microwave had been kind of amusing, and he had secretly enjoyed watching the bag get larger as the popcorn grew into a light fluffy food. He still didn't understand why Conrart thought a microwave was so great though. Sure it made food magically warmer instantly, but Wolfram already had something back at the castle that always did that for him. They were called maids.

Wolfram was currently sitting on the couch and watching an episode of _Chiyo the Cheerful Centipede_. He did not like Chiyo very much. Gwendel would probably like the cuteness that Chiyo exuded from every spiracle (1), but Wolfram did not think that the centipede was very amusing. Wolfram glanced over at the kitchen table and felt a surge of anger. Murata was still "trying to solve the mosquito problem" with Yuuri and Conrart. It didn't matter that Wolfram had already solved the problem. Murata had read a few things on the non-wimpy insect that Wolfram had discovered, and then proclaimed that it wouldn't work. Wolfram shoved more popcorn into his mouth. How could they say that something wouldn't work without even trying it first?

Wolfram felt an ominous presence near the couch. He looked up to see Yuuri's older brother looming over him with a frown on his face.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping Yuu-chan?" Shori asked darkly.

"I already did." Wolfram stated. "They just haven't realized it yet."

Shori continued to glare at him. "Today is my day off and I am going to watch a movie."

Wolfram glared back. As much as he disliked Chiyo the Centipede, he disliked being told what to do even more. "Yuuri requested that I watch this thing." He said self-righteously while folding his arms over his chest. Shori could usually be manipulated pretty easily when it came to anything involving Yuuri.

"Really? I think I might just ask Yuu-chan about that."

Surprisingly, Shori had called his bluff. It didn't matter much anyway though, since whatever Shori wanted to watch was probably more interesting than Chiyo.

"Fine, do as you wish." Wolfram said haughtily. "I will watch this movie with you, as long as you make me more…pup-cern."

Shori narrowed his eyes, but nodded in agreement. Five minutes later he slipped a disk labeled _Mothra takes on the Mothman_ into the DVD player.

-ooo-ooo-

Murata rubbed his forehead and sighed. Still no luck. All he had found were a lot of dead ends. The dobsonfly would obviously not work for biological control since _Aedes albopictus_ was a container breeder. Biological control in general was probably too risky since it involved introducing yet another animal from Earth to Shin Makoku. There was no telling how any of them would interact with the native species of Shin Makoku. What else was there? (2)

"I don't think biological control will work. We need something else." Murata said.

Conrart and Yuuri nodded tiredly.

"Well," Yuuri said while looking over the list of ideas that they had come up with. "We already have bug-spray. And the mosquito education program you talked about starting sounds like it might help."

"I'll talk with Gwendel about that when we return to Shin Makoku." Conrart offered.

At the moment, the best course of action seemed to be education and trying to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds. However, that would be made difficult by two things, for one, people had no experience with mosquitoes, and he wasn't sure how well they would listen. They also had to try and get rid of the mosquitoes that had gotten into the human lands. That was going to be a political nightmare.

"I know," Murata said grumpily, "It's just that I wish there was an easier way. Or something that we could use in addition to education. Convincing people to clean up standing water might take a long time." He paused. "And by the time we start getting people used to not leaving containers of water out, we might already have hordes of the mosquitoes."

"Hey, Murata. Maybe we should take a break." Yuuri said hopefully.

"If you want to, you can." Murata said tiredly. "I'm going to keep looking."

"Oh, ok." Yuuri said disappointedly. He sat and thought for a few minutes and then came up with an idea. "Hey, I know! I can make us all snacks and then we can take a break." He said, eyes lighting up at his brilliant idea "You always need to remember to eat when you are working on something."

"That sounds like an excellent idea, your Majesty."

"My name is Yuuri, Conrad!"

"That sounds like an excellent idea, _Yuuri_."

Wolfram looked up from the movie and scowled at Yuuri, but didn't say anything.

-ooo-ooo-

Murata looked through the pages of the book and tried to concentrate. He still wasn't any closer to fining something they could bring with them. The horrible attempts at humor throughout the book did not help either. Whoever had written _Great Moments in Dipteran Control:_ _When Flies Get Fried, Poisoned, or Just Die_, should never have attempted to have a sense of humor. The book had very good information on controlling mosquitoes and flies though.

Conrart looked bored. He saw the soldier make glances toward the kitchen every once in a while.

Suddenly Yuri entered the room with a big grin on his face.

"Hey Conrad, I found some peeps. Do you want to see what happens to them in the microwave?"

"Peeps?" Conrart asked curiously while walking over toward the microwave.

"They're like marshmallows. I found some chocolate too so we can make smores!"

"Wimp! What are you up to now?" Wolfram asked suspiciously, momentarily distracted from a riveting scene where Mothra discovered a wing scale left behind by the Mothman.

"Wolfram, we're going to cook with the microwave again." Yuuri explained cheerfully. "You can help too if you want."

"As if I'd want to." Wolfram replied haughtily.

"Who are you talking to, Wolfram? Are you calling Yuu-chan a wimp?"

"I certainly hope you are smart enough to figure that one out on your own." Wolfram said petulantly.

_Just great._ Murata thought. Now he would have the distraction of Wolfram and Shori's passive-aggressive comments combined with Yuuri and Conrart's use of the microwave. It would be a miracle if he could read through one paragraph right now.

There was faint laughter from the kitchen as Conrart and Yuuri started opening food packages and using the microwave.

Murata groaned. Yuri was much too easily amused. He could understand why Conrart found the microwave fascinating. He had grown up in Shin Makoku, and to him, every modern convenience was novel and strange.

"Look how big it grew!" Yuuri exclaimed unnecessarily.

The microwave beeped and Yuuri took out the sugary mess that he had put inside.

"Let's try that again!" Yuuri exclaimed with an equal amount of enthusiasm.

Someone needed to tell Yuri that the microwave was not a toy. Maybe he should say something. Something along the lines of _Shibuya, you do want to have kids at some point in your life, right?_ Not that a microwave was _that _dangerous. But that didn't mean that playing with one was a good idea. Plus, there were better things to do at the moment. Like figure out how to get rid of mosquitoes. Something nagged at the back of his mind. What were they going to do, put the mosquitoes in the microwave?

No, of course not. But Murata remembered something and flipped a few pages back in his copy of _Great Moments in Dipteran Control: When Flies Get Fried, Poisoned, or Just Die_. He looked at the picture of _Cochliomyia hominivorax_. There. It might just be another fly to some people, but in its own way the screw worm fly was special. It was a serious pest of cattle, but had been erradicated from many countries with a simple technique. An insidiously simple method that exploited the fly's mating habits. Murata scanned his eyes over the page once more and settled on the section he was looking for: _Sterile Insect Technique (Or how the screw worm fly was screwed by only screwing once)._ Murata winced at the book's lame attempt to make a pun. But it was true. The female screw worm only mated once in her lifetime. Male screw worms were raised in large numbers in a lab and irradiated just enough to become sterile. Then they were released in large numbers. The females that mated with the sterile males did not produce offspring. The fly population was reduced and eventually erradicated. It was perfect!

"Shibuya, you're a genius!" Murata cried out gleefully.

"Huh?" Yuuri asked with a mouth full of sugar and chocolate. He was obviously confused.

Murata ran over to where Yuuri and Conrart were standing. He was happy enough to hug them both!

Conrart gave him a concerned look. "Are you feeling all right, your Eminence?" he asked.

"Never better!" grinned Murata.

But they made him lie down, drink some water and eat something anyway.

-ooo-ooo-

"But will it work on the mosquitoes?" Yuuri asked.

"I think it just might." Murata said confidently. "Most female mosquitoes only mate once, or at most, two or three times."

"Uh, so are we going to bring the microwave to Shin Makoku or something?" Yuuri asked.

Murata shook his head. "That's going to be the hard part. The microwave doesn't quite have the setting to work. We are going to either have to find a mosquito irradiator on Earth, or have Anissina invent one."

Yuuri turned pale at the thought.

Conrart looked pleased. "It is _inconceivable_ that such a plan could fail."

Yuuri and Murata both groaned.

"Please don't tell that one to Gwendel." Yuuri pleaded.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile in Shin Makoku<strong>…

Lord Gwendel von Voltaire sneezed. A bad omen bird flew against his office window with a THUNK. He paused and wondered briefly what it meant.

* * *

><p><strong>Murata's fun fun Mosquito Facts<strong>

Sterile Insect Technique or SIT involves dosing a male insect with just enough radiation to make him sterile. The trick is keeping the dosage low enough so he is still attractive to the female insects!

Sterile Insect Technique works best with species where the female only mates once.

SIT is currently being tested as a method to reduce mosquito populations in places such as Africa and Italy.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>:

(1) A spiracle is an opening used for breathing. Since arthropods have trachea but no lungs they have many spiracles over their bodies. A spiracle would therefore be the centipede equivalent of a pore. And baby centipedes are adorably cute.

(2) There are a lot of other ideas, obviously. But to list and describe them all would make this chapter so long and boring that it would be practically unreadable.

Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed. It really helps me with ideas and inspiration. I especially appreciate story suggestions and constructive criticism. Special thanks to Paula for leaving so many reviews! And thank you to everyone else who had the patience to read through this story (even if you didn't leave a review).

At this point, there are two ways this story can end. I could probably finish it in about two or three more chapters. Or I could write a more drawn out ending that would possibly involve things such as José (and maybe Shori) going to Shin Makoku, visits from humans such as Saralegui and Alford, and a cross-dressing scene with Yozak. I haven't decided which way I want to do it yet, so if you have an opinion, or if you have something you would like to see, please let me know!

And I will probably take a slight break from this story (unless I suddenly get inspired to write the next few chapters.)

Thanks for reading!


	13. Day 3 on Earth

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kyo kara Maoh. This is a work of fiction. Any places referenced are used fictiously.

**Warning:** Shameless fan service and random silliness.

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><p>"Oh Majesty," Gunter wailed. "Why have you left me behind yet again? Do you hate me?" Gunter turned to face Anissina. "Anissina, do you think his Majesty hates me? He must, or why would he treat me this way? Oh Majesty, whatever have I done to merit such disapproval?" Gunter wailed.<p>

"Gunter, think of how happy you would make his Majesty if we managed to solve the mosquito problem while he is gone." Anissina said.

Gunter paused in his dramatic display of emotion to think about Anissina's words. "I would do anything to win back the affection of his Majesty." He whispered at last.

"Perfect." Anissina said with a dangerous smile. "Now, I need you to try powering my magic powered wind summoner."

"But Anissina," Gunter protested, "This invention didn't work when you tried to use it to blow humans away."

"But this time I'm pointing it the other way." Anissina explained. "That way all the mosquitoes will be drawn here, and we can trap them."

Greta was impressed. Anissina always came up with the coolest ideas!

The giant golden invention spun. It managed to attract some papers, which it promptly shredded, but no mosquitoes. Gunter wasn't strong enough to make Anissina's invention work this time either.

"Oh well, I'll just have to think of something else!" Anissina said happily.

Gunter collapsed to the floor.

"Men are such exaggerators." Anissina complained.

"Anissina, is Gunter okay?" Greta asked.

"He's just a little tired." Anissina explained. "Greta, do you want to help me check on the baby mosquitoes?" The inventor asked.

"Okay!"

Greta was sometimes lonely when Yuuri and Wolfram went on a fun adventure and left her at the castle. But at least Anissina was still around!

**Chapter 13: Day 3 on Earth**

The four of them sat on the couch watching a baseball game. Yuuri and Conrart were fully absorbed. Wolfram sat possessively next to Yuuri, but looked bored. Murata sent another text to José. He looked up to see Wolfram glaring at him. Wolfram had not been pleased with Ken's brief moments of enthusiastic happiness after the mosquito problem breakthrough.

Shori was sitting in an armchair, reading a book, and occasionally surreptitiously glancing up to glare at Wolfram and Conrart.

Glare, glare, glare.

Murata tried to plan his strategy. He would definitely need Shori's help. That would mean that Yuuri would have to come too. He needed to figure out a way to separate Yuuri from Wolfram and Conrart, since they definitely did not need any distractions if they were to be successful. Murata paused to reconsider his analysis. Conrart could possibly be helpful. The soldier was really good at doing what he was told, no questions asked. Wolfram, however was an expert at drawing attention to himself while on Earth. But how to make Wolfram stay behind?

-ooo-ooo-

Wolfram sat on the couch and stifled a yawn. He still didn't understand what was so exciting about baseball.

The camera zoomed in as one of the players took a moment to scratch his crotch and spit into the dirt at the same time. Wolfram's eyes bugged. He was appalled. What a disgustingly perverted pastime. His eyes narrowed as he noticed that Yuuri was watching the game with rapt attention. Wolfram grabbed one of the pillows off the couch and prepared to whack Yuuri over the back of the head with it. He was stopped by a hand on his wrist, and looked up to see Conrart giving him a _please__don__'__t__pummel__your__king__while__he__is__watching__baseball_ look.

Murata stood up and gave Wolfram a smile that was much too sweet and innocent for Wolfram's liking. The Great Sage then proceeded to go into the kitchen and talk with Yuuri's mother. There was some giggling and a few glances in Wolfram's direction. Wolfram felt his face heat up. The Great Sage was up to something. He shook his brother's arm to try and get his attention. No response. He dug an elbow into Conrart's ribs. That finally managed to get his brother's attention off of the game.

"Conrart, The Great Sage is planning something…" Wolfram whispered.

"Of course, Wolfram. I am sure his Eminence is making the final preparations for obtaining mosquito control devices." Conrart said.

"That's not what I meant." Wolfram whispered angrily. "He's plotting something."

Conrart gave Wolfram a _little__brothers__are__always__adorably__cute_ smile, and then returned his attention to the baseball game.

-ooo-ooo-

Wolfram looked up to see the Great Sage standing in front of him, blocking his view of the TV. "Wolfram, you've been remiss in your duties as the royal fiancée."

"What…" Wolfram began angrily.

"Murata," Yuuri said "What are you doing? It's the bottom of the ninth inning!"

"Wimp! What perversions are you talking about now?" Wolfram demanded.

"There's an Earth tradition for fiancées," Murata explained, ignoring the interruptions. "It's called spending quality time with your future mother-in-law." Murata paused to give Wolfram a meaningful look "You wouldn't want to neglect your duties, now would you?"

"Of course not." Wolfram said uncertainly.

"Excellent. We'll leave you to your duties then." Murata said while pulling Yuuri and Conrart away from the television.

"Murata, I want to see the last pitch." Yuuri complained.

"Maybe you can listen to it to see whether or not the pitch is off." Conrart suggested.

Yuuri face-palmed.

Wolfram wondered what had not been funny. He stood up to follow after Yuuri, Murata and Conrart. His path was suddenly blocked by an over-excited Miko.

"Wolf-chan, we are going to have so much fun together!" Miko squealed.

Wolfram sighed, and resigned himself to his fate. He was willing to do anything for Yuuri.

"Did anyone ever tell you what beautiful eyes you have?" Miko asked in a voice that made Wolfram's skin crawl.

-ooo-ooo-

"Hey, Murata, where are we going?" Yuuri asked as they all piled into Shori's company car.

Shori looked over at Murata, who was sitting in the passenger seat. "You had better start explaining if you expect me to drive you anywhere." He said with a glare.

Murata pushed his glasses back on his nose, "I've been talking with José."

"Is he going to meet us?" Yuuri asked.

"No, he's in Cuiabá, Brasil, visiting some relatives right now." Murata explained.

"José has relatives?" Yuuri asked incrediously.

"Of course he does, Shibuya." Murata said.

"If he's Brasilian, then how does he have a Spanish name?" Shori asked suspiciously.

"I think his father is from Columbia." said Murata.

"But wait! José can't be visiting relatives!" Yuuri shouted. "I thought he was going to help us find a mosquito…control thing."

"He is." Murata said.

"How can he do that if he isn't here?" Yuuri demanded.

"Shibuya, you really don't need to know the details yet." Murata said.

Shori suddenly slammed his foot on the brake and they all jerked forward. "I don't like the sound of this." He said darkly.

"Bob approves." Murata said. "All you have to do is drive us to the University of Tokyo. I'll handle the rest."

And that was all they needed to know.

-ooo-ooo-

They approached the University in silence.

"Uh, so what do we do now, Murata?" Yuuri asked as the large buildings loomed ahead.

"We are going get the mosquito irradiator while Shori waits in the car." Murata said with an innocent smile.

"Ok, wait, WHAT!" Yuuri flailed his arms as he realized something. "Murata isn't that stealing?"

"Of course not, Shibuya. We're just _borrowing_ it since time is important."

"Why can't Bob or José just buy one?" Yuuri asked.

Murata sighed, "Shibuya, do you have any idea how long that would take? It is a lot quicker to just borrow one now, and give it back or replace it later."

-ooo-ooo-

Shori continued to drive towards the campus as Murata gave instructions.

"We need to find the Bioscience Research Building." Murata said while pulling out a map.

"Hey, Murata, look over there!" Yuuri said while pointing over to the left. "They have a huge baseball field!"

"We're going in the other direction, Shibuya."

Yuuri looked slightly disappointed.

Shori continued driving.

"Turn here, and then drop us off at the Tatsouka Gate." Murata instructed.

Shori took a moment to glower at Murata as they exited the car. "I'll be waiting out here. You better not let anything happen to Yu-chan."

"What now?" Yuuri asked as he entered the campus with Conrart and Murata.

"We need to get an ID card." Murata said while giving Conrart a meaningful glance.

"I didn't bring my sword." Conrart pointed out.

"You won't need it." Murata said.

Conrart looked dubious, but then brightened up. "Does that mean I get to use a gun?" he asked hopefully.

"No!" Murata and Yuuri both shouted.

"I have a slightly different strategy in mind, Sir Weller." Murata said while reaching up to remove Anissina's Let-me-hear-your-heart's-cry-kun from Conrart's ear.

"But Murata, Conrad's Japanese is really horrible without Anissina's invention." Yuuri protested.

"Exactly, Shibuya. I'm sure most of the international graduate students don't speak Japanese very well when they first arrive." Murata said as they approached one of the administration buildings.

-ooo-ooo-

"Can you help me? I am a new student here and I have lost my identification."

The girl behind the desk giggled slightly as Conrart mispronounced a few of the words.

He gave her a dazzling smile.

She smiled back, and started typing something into a computer.

Murata and Yuuri held their breath as they watched surreptitiously from a window.

"Oh, here, I found your picture in the records. We have a spare copy of your ID. Here it is." She handed the badge over.

"Thank you for your help." Conrart said with another smile.

The girl giggled again.

Yuuri frowned.

"Jealous, Shibuya?" Murata asked with a smirk.

"Huh? What? No, of course not." Yuuri said flustered. "I mean, it shouldn't be that easy to get an ID pass for a research lab, right?"

In a few minutes Conrart joined them outside, looking slightly perplexed. "Here is the ID card that you requested, your Highness and your Eminence." He said as he handed the card over to Yuuri and Murata.

Yuuri looked at the photo ID. "Conrad doesn't look anything like this guy either!" He said indignantly.

Murata smiled, "I guess to some people, all foreigners look the same." He said as he slid the ID card across a slot in front of the Bioscience Research Building.

-ooo-ooo-

The walked down a long hallway. "It's this door at the end," Murata said at last. He placed the ID card into the slot, and the door unlocked.

They entered a typical science lab, complete with lab benches, sinks, a centrifuge, micropipets, and a dome shaped toaster oven-sized monstrosity in the center of one of the lab benches.

"This is it?" Yuuri asked. "I thought it might be bigger."

"It's an experimental one, made by a graduate student who is working with fruit flies." Murata explained.

"Oh," said Yuuri. "Hey, won't it mess up his research if we take this?" Yuuri asked.

"He's on vacation right now. We'll have it back before he returns."

Yuuri knew better than to ask how Murata knew all those things.

"How are we going to get this out of here without anyone noticing?" Yuuri asked.

Conrart looked hopefully at one of the windows, but Murata ignored him. They were on the third floor. There would be no jumping out of windows involved.

"That's the easy part." Murata said as he removed a liner from a trash can. He wrapped it around the irradiator. "See? Now it's just another lumpy bag." Murata stood back to look at his work. "It's kind of heavy though because of the lead shielding, so Lord Weller will have to carry it.

Conrart picked up the bundle with a slight grunt, and they headed out of the laboratory.

Murata felt his heart pound slightly as they stepped into the hallway. Technically they weren't doing anything wrong, but if anyone became suspicious, it would be hard to explain away an insect irradiator inside a plastic bag.

"Excuse me sir," Murata stopped in his tracks as he heard the voice. He turned around.

An older man stood in the hallway. He appeared to be a custodian. Murata met the man's gaze, and fervently hoped that Yuuri wouldn't freak out and give them away.

The old man pointed at the bundle in Conrart's arms. "Is that trash? If you want I could throw it away for you."

"No, thank you, we're fine." Murata said as he was filled with relief.

They made it out of the building and back to the car without any major incidents.

-ooo-ooo-

Mission accomplished, they drove back to the Shibuya residence.

"I'm sure Mama-san and Lord von Blielfeld have had a fun day together." Murata said suggestively as Shori opened the door.

Yuuri groaned at the idea.

We're home…" Shori began. Then he stopped and stood in the doorway.

Yuuri pushed past Shori to see what was going on.

A very annoyed Wolfram stood in the middle of the living room. His head was down and his blond hair covered his eyes. He was wearing a frilly green dress trimmed with black lace. The dress color would have brought out the color of his eyes beautifully, if he had opened them. He was also wearing black knee-length stockings and dress shoes.

"Oh Yu-chan, isn't Wolf-chan just adorable?" Miko asked with her hands clasped in front of her. "And he wears the same size as you!"

"…tchh…" said Wolfram.

"Mom!" Yuuri shouted.

"It's Momma, Yu-chan." Miko corrected. "And don't shout, it's rude."

**Meanwhile in Shin Makoku…**

Yozak smirked to himself as he exited Conrart's bedroom. One of the best things about being left at the castle was all the unsupervised time for payback. He looked down at the small device in his hand and decided that the instant-redecoration-kun was one of the best inventions that Anissina had recently come up with. He hoped the Captain liked pink!

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><p><strong>Author<strong>**'****s ****Notes:** Thanks for all the reviews!

Speaking of cross dressing, Dan included a very interesting link in the August 10 edition of Savage Love. (xdress(dot)com) "Miss Biceps" might have some competition (those models are buff!).


	14. Between Two Worlds

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kyo kara Maoh.

**Author****'****s ****Note:** Sorry about the wait.

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><p><strong>Chapter 14: Between Two Worlds<strong>

They all sat on the edge of Yuuri's bed and stared at the mosquito irradiator. Murata had quite sensibly wrapped it in a waterproof plastic bag.

"So, uh, what do we do now?" Yuuri asked.

"Go back to Shin Makoku with the irradiator of course." Murata said with an _I-can__'__t-believe-I__'__m-surrounded-by-idiots-all-the-time_ smile.

Yuuri frowned. "But are you sure we can all fit in the bathtub alongside that?" he asked dubiously, "Maybe we should fill up the inflatable pool in the front yard."

"Hopefully your neighbors won't get too irrigated." Conrart said with a twinkle in his eye.

Yuuri and Murata groaned.

"It's not quite pool weather yet, Shibuya." Murata pointed out. "Why don't we try fitting into the bathtub while holding the irradiator? If that doesn't work, we can try something else."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Yuuri said.

-ooo-ooo-

"Yuu-chan, open the door. What are you doing in there?" Shori's voice came muffled from the other side of the door.

Yuuri was currently balanced on the edge of the tub. Wolfram and Conrart were already standing in the water and holding the irradiator between them. Yuuri looked up at the door quickly, and then managed to lose his balance and fell backwards into the water with a splash.

"What was that? What's going on?" Shori asked suspiciously.

"We're heading back to Shin Makoku." Murata said while locking the door.

"Not without me you're not." Shori said while trying to open the door.

Murata looked over and noticed that the whirlpool had started forming. "Actually we are." He said smugly before stepping into the tub. Shori could be a lot of fun to annoy sometimes.

"Hey, Murata, did you lock the door?" Yuuri asked.

"Of course, Shibuya. We can't have Shori interfering just because he has a brother complex."

Yuuri thought about that for a few minutes as the swirling water began to increase in speed. "But how are they going to unlock the door?" he asked suddenly.

"I'm sure your parents will figure something out." Murata said. "Besides it's too late now." He finished glibly as the whirlpool pulled them under.

Yuuri wondered briefly how his family would manage, but then realized he had some important things to worry about in Shin Makoku that needed his attention. He hoped Murata knew what he was talking about.

-ooo-ooo-

Yuuri pulled some algae out of his hair and looked around. They had ended up transported back to Shinou's fountain.

Almost immediately he felt slender arms engulf him as he was pulled into a tight embrace. "Oh Majesty," Gunter sobbed, "You have returned at last."

Yuuri tried to pry himself loose from Gunter's arms. "I..um..am..mph..back." Yuuri attempted to mumble through the fold of Gunter's robes. Gunter sniffed and sobbed while hugging Yuuri tighter. Yuuri struggled to breathe and realized that Conrart was probably right. There would be no escaping Gunter's hugs. They were a part of the man's name after all.

"Oh Majesty. Despite my intentions and hard work, I have failed you yet again." Gunter proclaimed. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Lady von Karbelnikoff and I were unable to get rid of the mosquitoes without the guidance of the infinite knowledge of His Majesty."

"That's..ok.. Gmuther." Yuuri managed to gasp out. He thought he heard Murata snickering off somewhere, and wished his friend would help him once in a while instead of being entertained.

"Oh His Majesty is too kind and forgiving to his loyal subjects." Gunter gushed while squeezing Yuuri tighter. "How noble, kingly and loving…"

"Wimp!" roared Wolfram, who was never in a pleasant mood when he was wet, "How can my own fiancé cheat right in front of me?" Wolfram of course, very logically realized that it was Yuuri's fault that Gunter was hanging all over him. He tried to yank Yuuri out from Gunter's embrace, but only succeeded in getting his cuff link caught on Gunter's robes.

"Papa Yuuri, Papa Wolfram, Greta missed you!" Greta said, while throwing herself at the tangled mess that was Yuuri, Gunter, and Wolfram.

Yuuri felt a slight twinge of guilt. He had people who cared about him in both worlds. No matter how he divided his time, there would be someone who was missing him. Not that he would ever give up the experience. He had more friends than he ever thought possible. And once in a while he realized what it must be like for them. It was easier being the one who left and went on exciting adventures. Being the one left behind was hard.

"I'm back." Yuuri managed to say into Gunter's robes. He took Greta's hand in his and gave it a slight squeeze.

Wolfram made a frustrated sound and tried to untangle his cuff link from the fabric of Gunter's robe. Yuuri felt himself get tuned around by the motion.

"Wolfram, stop, I can't see where I'm going." Yuuri exclaimed as he tripped over a rock and fell against Gunter. And they all tumbled into the fountain.

"Oh, Majesty, you've gotten wet again. How terrible!" Gunter wailed dramatically.

"Let's play in the water, Papa Yuuri!" Greta said and began to splash both him and Wolfram.

"What if his Majesty comes down with a cold from exposure and suffers a long illness?" Gunter continued. "What a calamity that would be!"

Yuuri sighed and looked around. Murata and Conrart had gotten out of the fountain without incident and were watching him with expressions of poorly hidden amusement.

"I'll go get his Majesty some towels." Conrart said with a perfectly composed smile.

-ooo-ooo-

Gwendel frowned at the commotion outside his door. His eye began to twitch as he realized that his two brothers, the Great Sage, and the King must have returned from their travel to Earth. He had managed to finally catch up on all his paper-work without so many distractions.

The wrinkles on Gwendel's forehead became deeper as the door to his office was flung open by the Great Sage. Gwendel wondered where he had picked up such atrocious manners.

"Don't worry, Lord von Voltaire," the Great Sage began, "We've solved the mosquito problem for you!"

"I helped too." Wolfram pointed out. "Don't forget to mention that."

"How did you solve the mosquito problem?" Gwendel asked suspiciously.

"Well, we haven't done it yet, but now we know _how_ it's going to be done. And we need some assistance from you too of course."

"You have to help too you know, brother." Wolfram chimed in.

Gwendel felt a prickling sensation as he wondered what exact type of assistance they would require from him. He got a slightly sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realized what was most likely wanted of him. His worst suspicions were confirmed a few moments later when a red-headed mad inventor entered the office with something tucked in the crook of her arm.

Anissina had a triumphant look and certain twinkle in her eye that made Gwendel's stomach drop. He was doomed.

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><p><em><strong>Epilogue<strong>_

_**3 months later…**_

Yuuri sighed as he breathed in the cool night-time air. He held his breath for a moment, and then slowly exhaled. Everything was as it should be: peaceful, quiet and _mosquito-free_.

Anissina's version of the mosquito-irradiator had worked remarkably well. They had been able to release sterile male mosquitoes in such large numbers that the population started declining almost instantly. And most surprising of all, Gwendel had survived the testing phase of the invention without any lasting damage.

True they still had to work with the humans to finish getting completely rid of the mosquitoes, but all in all, things had turned out very well.

Yuuri turned slightly as he heard some else approaching. Conrart walked over to stand beside him.

"It's nice again to not have mosquitoes here anymore." Conrart began, as if he could read Yuuri's mind .

"Yeah," Yuuri began, and then looked down when he remembered that it was his fault that mosquitoes had gotten into Shin Makoku in the first place. Of course, Conrad would never bring that up.

"So, the problem was mainly caused by stray flies?" Conrart asked.

"Yeah, I, uh guess so." Yuuri said, looking up again and remembering some of the things that Murata had taught him about mosquitoes. That was kind of a weird way to phrase it though. He wondered what Conrad had in mind.

"I guess that means we'll have to practice more baseball then." Conrart said with a slight chuckle.

Yuuri groaned. Some things never changed. But maybe, that was a good thing once in a while.

_**The End**_

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><p><strong>Author<strong>**'****s ****Notes:** I'm done! Hurray! *Throws party for readers*

Thank you so much for reading! I hope it was entertaining and educational.

And a very big thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review. I'm always trying to improve my writing, and getting feedback is really helpfull. :)


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